Buangkok site attracts highest-ever EC bid

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Published March 5, 2010

Buangkok site attracts highest-ever EC bid

The tender draws 11 bids, the highest being about $315 per sq ft per plot ratio

By KALPANA RASHIWALA


(SINGAPORE) A 99-year-leasehold executive condominium (EC) housing site near Buangkok MRT Station has fetched the highest ever bid for an EC site.

The top bid from a partnership between Frasers Centrepoint and Lum Chang Building Contractors of $193.28 million or about $315 per square foot per plot ratio (psf ppr) surpassed the previous record of $220 psf ppr for the Summerdale EC site in Boon Lay in May 1997, noted property consultant CB Richard Ellis (CBRE).

Yesterday's tender drew a total of 11 bids, reflecting developers' continuing hunger for land. The top bid came in slightly above market expectations in January, when the Housing & Development Board (HDB) launched the site. ECs are a hybrid of private and public housing.

With Lum Chang expected to provide construction services for the project, the tie-up should be able to minimise construction costs, industry observers noted yesterday. By some market estimates, their breakeven cost for a new EC project could be below $600 psf. The duo are expected to build a higher proportion of small units to try and achieve higher per square foot selling prices.

Even so, there will be a limit as to how small the apartments can be, given the high standard of public housing set in the area, for HDB Aspella, comprising premium HDB flats next to Buangkok MRT Station, market watchers say.

A possible option, and one which Frasers Centrepoint has done before, is to have some apartments with its 'dual-key concept', where a regular-sized apartment and a granny apartment (with its own kitchenette and bathroom) are packaged as a single unit.

CBRE executive director Li Hiaw Ho reckons Frasers Centrepoint and Lum Chang could sell their units in the $650-$680 psf range on average. Based on that, a 1,200-sq-ft unit in the new development would be priced at about $800,000.

A Frasers Centrepoint spokesman said yesterday: 'This site is well-located, and in view of the tight supply and great demand, we are confident that it will be an attractive development especially to home buyers who have been recently priced out of the market. We are planning to build about 500-plus units on the site.'

In the secondary market, three EC projects in the north-east region - The Rivervale, Florida and Park Green - have sold at $520-$600 psf between October 2009 and February 2010, said CBRE.

Yesterday's top bid was just 1.4 per cent above the second highest offer of $310 psf ppr by MCC Land, part of the China Metallurgical Construction Group. Other bidders at yesterday's tender included a JV led by Hoi Hup Realty; United Engineers unit Greatearth Holdings and a tie-up between Choice Homes Investments and a subsidiary of Chip Eng Seng Corporation. Interestingly, property giants Far East Organization and City Developments emerged near the bottom of the bids' table. The lowest bid came from Boon Keng Development at $198.52 psf ppr.

ECs are strata-titled apartments with facilities comparable to private condos. New ECs are sold with initial eligibility, ownership and resale restrictions similar to public housing; but these are completely removed after 10 years.

Among the buyer eligibility criteria is a maximum $10,000 monthly household income. Qualifying first-time buyers who purchase new ECs may also apply for a $30,000 CPF housing grant.

The winning tenderer will have to set aside 95 per cent of units in the initial month of sale for first-time home buyers - those who have yet to receive a housing subsidy from government. Second timers buying new ECs do not need to pay any resale levy.

The tender for another EC site, in Yishun, will close on March 11. HDB also announced yesterday it will launch another plot, also in Yishun, later this month or next month for development into HDB flats under the Design, Build & Sell Scheme. That site can potentially yield about 700 flats.

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Mar 5, 2010

11 bids for exec condo site in Sengkang

Top bid higher than expected; final selling prices likely to be over $650 psf

By Joyce Teo


AN EXECUTIVE condominium (EC) site in Sengkang has drawn a whopping 11 bids, with the winning offer trumping analysts' expectations by a fair margin.

The 19,000 sq m site, which can be developed into 520 apartments and is near Buangkok MRT station, was topped by joint bidders Frasers Centrepoint's Opal Star and Lum Chang Building Contractors. Their valuation of the asset came to $193.28 million, or $315 per sq ft (psf) of gross floor area.

They nudged MCC Land (Singapore) and its bid of $190.7 million, or nearly $311 psf of gross floor area, into second place. The third bid of $181.19 million, or $295.3 psf of gross floor area, came from Hoi Hup Realty, Sunway Developments and Hoi Hup J.V. Development.

Analysts had expected lower bids of between $190 and $300 psf of gross floor area, which would translate into a final selling price of $550 to $600 psf.

By the close of the tender yesterday, developers large and small had put in pitches, from Far East Organization to Sim Lian Land and Chinese firm Qingjian Realty.

City Developments' unit submitted the second-to-last bid of $140.38 million, or $228.8 psf of gross floor area, while Boon Keng Development was last in with an offer of $121.8 million, or $198.5 psf of gross floor area.

CBRE Research said the large number of bids showed that developers continued to have an upbeat outlook for the suburban residential market, and signalled that they were keen to build up their land banks for suburban development.

'Six of the 11 bidders expect the new development...to be launched above $600 psf, which would be a reasonable average selling price for a new EC project at this location in today's market,' said Ngee Ann Polytechnic real estate lecturer Nicholas Mak.

'This indicates that about half of the developers in today's tender expect the price of entry-level homes to increase in the next year or so.'

The winner of the site will have to set aside 95 per cent of the units during the first month of sale for first-time home buyers, as stipulated by the Housing Board.

Frasers Centrepoint is looking to build 500-plus units on the plot, said a spokesman.

'This site is well located, and in view of the tight supply and great demand, we are confident that it will be an attractive development especially to home buyers who have been recently priced out of the market,' he said.

The units are not expected to be cheap, given that the top bid is the highest received for an EC site since land was made available for sale from this source in 1997, property experts said.

The previous record, set in May 1997, was at $220 psf of gross floor area, according to CBRE Research.

Based on the top bid's value, analysts estimate the break-even level to be about $600 to $640 psf, which indicates that final selling prices could range from $650 to $700 psf.

PropNex chief executive Mohamed Ismail said that such a price 'will seem reasonable' come the second half of the year, when developers who bought land recently at some $500 psf or more 'will be marketing their private mass market condos at more than $900 psf'.

At nearby The Rivervale EC, Florida EC and Park Green EC, units were sold at $520 to $600 psf between last October and last month, said CBRE Research.

The Government last put up an EC site for sale in Punggol in September 2008 but failed to attract any bids. The last EC launched was La Casa in Woodlands in May 2005 - for around $550 psf - which was completed in early 2008.

HDB announced yesterday that it will put up for tender a land parcel along Yishun Avenue 11 within the next two months. The site is earmarked for housing development under the Design, Build and Sell Scheme (DBSS) and will have a potential yield of 700 flats, it said.

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